Market NewsNewsDe Beers investing in high tech for lab-grown diamond business

De Beers investing in high tech for lab-grown diamond business

October 21st, 2018

Anglo American unit De Beers is going after lucrative, but elusive high-tech markets in quantum computing, as it aims to expand its lab-grown diamond business beyond drilling and cutting, thestar.com reported.

Element Six, De Beers' synthetic diamond arm, is building a US$94 million factory in Portland, Oregon, an expansion that comes as scientists from Moscow to London push to develop diamonds for futuristic applications, said the thestar.com report.

Researchers have long chased the synthetic "holy grail" of diamond semiconductors, without commercial success.